First post. Is this a good place for Lincoln owners? Just bought a 54 Capri and will have at least a few hundred questions.
Thanks dtr. The car I just bought has been parked under a hay barn since 1965, has 68k miles. It's missing the carb. Does have an ac system in it from the trunk. Gotta do some research on that. AZ car and has zero rust except a little surface rust. Interior is shot, well all but dash, which seems intact. I pick it up tomorrow and only saw it at dusk for like 15 minutes, so not really sure about what I saw. Trying to find parts seems to be tricky too. I'll be posting some pictures of it tomorrow. Thanks for the welcome.
Neat cars, I worked with a guy that let one rust into the earth and it was s****ped about 15 years ago. I like the body style over the Mercury. Some parts will be a chore to find, but they are out there somewhere.
Looks like they may have some parts. https://www.dvap.com/?s=any&q_make=Lincoln&q_year=1954&submit=Search
Welcome, I think you will find this bunch of Ford owners will like anything Ford produced in the 50's from Base Ford's to Edsels to lincolns! Just don't mention the "C" word!
Well, I got the car home. Here are a few pics for now. Got a lot of mouse **** to vacuum up. Gonna gut the interior first, get it ready for redoing.
Important to find an intact car. My Ford was part of a divorce settlement, it was missing a lot of trim and interior parts. Which I cha$ed down. Somewhere there is an ex-husband with boxes of '59 Ford parts in his garage laughing his a$$ off.
Yeah, that's what attracted me to this car. Very solid and all brightwork was there. There are two emblems missing. One on the hood and one on trunk. The chrome pieces are there but there's a colorful Lincoln emblem that goes in the center of each that's missing. And radio and carb missing. Other than that, she's complete. Once I really get into her I'll know how much of the existing stuff is serviceable. Haven't tried to remove anything bolted or screwed on, but I imagine I'll be spraying a lot of WD-40
Best penetrating oil I have used is 50% acetone and 50% Automatic Transmission Fluid, brand doesn't seem to matter for either part and mix doesn't need to be exact. I use a pump oil can and not real expensive so can really douse the part. I find it better than WD40 by a bunch.
That's good to know. I think I just might try that. I did take the screws out of the door panels and a few interior accessories and they actually came out pretty easily. I realize the engine suspension and brakes will all be a different story, but I'm encouraged. One interesting thing today, I checked the oil and it was nearly full, the oil was pretty dark but I've seen worse. The ****** dipstick had very clean clear fluid on it. I know modern ****** fluid is red, don't know what was used back in the 60s that was clear. It actually looked like new oil. Not clear like water, just not dark or burnt. I was really expecting the oil to be empty or like me sludge so I was surprised.
starting with a near complete car certainly makes your job a lot easier....that a really great find and i'm sure you will have a lot of fun with it good luck oh yeah i really love the "finned" heads on the compressor
I'm not sure when it was replaced but, the original auto trans oil was Sperm Oil. Yes, whale oil. Edit: I did a little search after posting this. It seems Sperm oil was discontinued about 1960. https://www.autorepairsanantonio.com/40-automatic-transmission-history But, it was still used as a additive, until 1971, when Whaling was outlawed in the US.
Well, I finally started into the engine. Once I took the valve cover off, I saw the innerds of the head. There was an awful lot of just thick black what looked like grease ball over everything. When I took the upper radiator hose neck off the intake there was a lot of rust chunks in the intake. Next I have the exhaust manifold to take off the head, then the intake, then the head. I can only get the p***enger side off until I figure out how to get the m***ive ac compressor off the other side. It mounts to a plate that is right on top of the other valve cover. To take the plate off, two of the mounting bolts are behind the fan pulley, and I can't get them out without first taking out the radiator, ac condenser, fan pulley then I can get to the bolts. But for now I just want to get the one head off so I can take a look at the cylinders and pistons to see if the bottom is worth rebuilding. I would like to be able to keep the original motor but not if it's going to cost the $6000-$6500 I was given as an estimate to rebuild it. I might be looking for a 302 or 351 to transplant into her. I have no idea what would need to be done for motor mounts, even staying with fomoco. Also, I'm going to have to redo the suspension and I saw a full kit from a mustang 2 that's supposed to fit my car. Any input about this? It seems the mustang is narrower than my Lincoln so I don't know how that would work.
The pistons would be the hardest to find. Search on Ebay for TRW L968, L970 and L2098 (Ford 172 tractor, 3.900 bore), you could bore it that big but, have it sonic checked, to make sure (min wall thickness should be .120. Wrist pin and compression height are the same. Gasket set, rings and bearing, shouldn't be a problem. That would give you a 334 ci engine.
The Jalopy Journal
